1935Packard

Very cool Chrysler.

Where I am, in the San Francisco East bay area, there seems to be a lot of old cars but not a lot of old car shows -- of any kind. I get why there are a lot of old cars: It's a great climate to drive an old car 12 months out of the year, and there's no salt on the roads so no rust. But I'm not sure why there aren't that many shows. Maybe it's just too packed around here, with every square inch filled up with something, so the driving isn't easy and it's hard to find a place with a lot of parking for shows? I don't know.

These updates are terrific, AJ. Seems like quite the adventure. Have fun and be safe.

California, your favorite state! I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

Living the dream, AJ. Living the dream.

I think this is all a matter of, "COMPARED TO WHAT?" If you assume a world where there are lots of pre-war cars, and interesting rare and oddball post-war cars, then the tri-five Chevies aren't very interesting. They're very attractive, and they conjure an age, but they're not unusual. On the other hand, if you assume a world of modern cars, where a "vintage car" might be something from the 90s, and no one around has anything before 1970, then tri-five Chevies are pretty cool. They're very attractive, and they conjure an age. As for me, I think the '57s in particular are striking cars. Not sure I'll ever get one, as I'm more of a pre-war person, but you never know. (I'm 51, for what it's worth.)

That's a really cool car. Love it. Congrats.

Just a few hours ago, I was looking through the book he edited and published, "The Stewardship of Historically Important Automobiles." I bought the book at his museum back in 2018 (as I recall, he was there that day and I thought of asking him to sign it, but I didn't want to bother him). A big loss for the hobby. May his rest in peace.

I've been. a Hagerty customer for 20 years. I had a claim around 2006 or so, and Hagerty was great.

As I understand it, motor and engine are now used interchangeably, but they used to mean slightly different things. "Motor" was originally a thing that caused a moving item to move, and "engine" was a broader term that meant any machine that produced an output. But yeah. today the same thing.

That's the Tesla approach, from what I understand.

Just Googling around, here's some info that comes up. (I don't know if it's accurate, but it's a responsive search result.) Antique Autos of America, was owned and operated by David Samuels in Largo, Florida. With over fifty employees, Antique Autos of America was one of the premier auto restoration facilities in the United States. Cars restored by Antique Autos included the famed the Frank Lloyd Wright L29 Cord in 1981. The company was so well respected that cars would just show up on trailers to be restored, not even knowing whom the cars belonged to. Southeastern Replicars was a side company of Antique Autos of America. Southeastern Replicars was the replica division of David Samuels company. Michael Akins was the production manager.

Love this. Looks just like it would have in period, nothing fancied up, and the kind of Packard you were most likely to see. Bravo.

The most inexplicable thing regular-car drivers sometimes do, when they see an antique car, is to drive up near it and then honk their horns. I'm sure we've all experienced that one many times! Especially when you're in an open car, that horn blast is LOUD. And you're already being hyper-attentive, making the horn blast extra-startling. I assume they're doing it to express appreciation. Honking the horn is their way of saying, "hey, cool car!" But sheesh. no thanks.

I don't know if driving old cars makes you a better driver in a newer car, as the experience is so different that I don't know if the habits cross over. But all of us who drive pre-war cars on the occasional highway know how exhausting an experience it can be given how hyper-attentive you have to be the road, other drivers, and your car. May you all live near pleasant back roads!

I had been dating my wife (then girlfriend) for a few months when we were in the garage with the Packards and she started asking me just how much these old cars costs to buy and maintain. In our conversation, I responded that, if we were going to end up together, it was really important to me that she support my old car habits. To this day, I remember that as the conversation when she implicitly agreed to support my old car habits. Meanwhile, she only remembers that as the first time we talked about getting married.

I don't know the quirks well enough to comment, but I really like the style of the 58 Edsels. Yes, they look a little weird. But it's the weirdness that makes them so interesting! When it comes to old cars, interesting counts for a lot, I think. Price does sound high, but I don't know what to look for in terms of quirks beyond the usual things.

Hoping for a quick and full recovery, Peter!

It was an overreaction, I agree, although the automobile fatality rate per per person per mile in 1930 was about 35x higher than it is today. That isn't nothing.

I'm more sympathetic to the potential buyer. He probably didn't realize that old cars are much less safe than newer cars, and when he figured it out, he backed out. In my experience, a lot of people don't realize this; when they see a big old car, they imagine it running over everything on the road from its sheer weight. Of course, we realize that's not the case. But what is obvious to us isn't obvious to a lot of people. All part of the learning process.

I was nuts about cars from the time I was a toddler. My grandfather owned the 35 Packard that is the source of my name here, and I was hooked on that and other antique cars pretty much from the beginning.

The owner didn't even show up in court, and the court issued a default judgment. The odds that he would then decide to comply with the court's demolition order seems awfully remote. Such a sad story.

I agree with Ed: I'm most entertained when he dials in a car as perfectly as possible.

Fun stuff! Thanks for posting, AJ.

It's painful for me to look at, especially as a long-time '49 Cadillac owner. But look on the bright side: The decision to spend this much money and effort hotrodding a Club Coupe shows that the Club Coupe's incredible style remains widely appreciated. And hopefully this will lead a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be interested in a stock '49 to ask, "wait, what kind of car is that?" You never know what might spark an interest in the original cars.